In this section

No. 32 Golden Square

At the partition of Gelding Close in 1675
Isaac Symball had agreed to take all the building
sites fronting on to the north side of the square
(fig. 18). In October 1685 he granted three
separate leases of the sites of Nos. 32–34; each
lease was for nine hundred years and was granted
to William Pye of St. James's, carpenter, at a
peppercorn for the first year and thereafter at
annual rents of £12 15s. for each of Nos. 32 and
33 and of £12 10s. for No. 34. In each lease Pye
covenanted to build a house uniform with that
of (William) Gray in the square, with the same
'height of stories, ornaments to the front, scantlings and goodness of timber and substantialness of
brickwork'. William Gray was the lessee of Nos.
20 and 21, to which the fronts of Nos. 32–34 as
shown in Sutton Nicholls's engraving (Plate 120b)
bore a close resemblance. Pye also covenanted to
maintain the façade uniform with that of Gray's
house throughout the nine-hundred-year term, to
pave in front of the house with Purbeck stone and
to pay towards the enclosure and maintenance of
Golden Square garden. Three storeys were to be
erected by Christmas 1685. (fn. 1)

Despite these elaborate provisions, Pye does not
seem to have started to build and in 1688, three
years after Symball's grant to him, he assigned his
leases of the sites of Nos. 32–34 to Abraham
Morison of St. James's, tallow chandler. Building
work began soon afterwards, probably carried out
by William Pye, but stopped through Morison's
lack of funds. Various sums of money amounting
to £475 were then borrowed by Morison on
mortgage but he absconded without paying either
principal or interest and without completing the
erection of the houses. (fn. 2) It is not surprising, therefore, that No. 32 was still in building in 1691
and not occupied until 1693.

Colonel Bellcastle was the first inhabitant,
living here from 1693 to 1695. Later occupants
of note include the Countess of Montefelroy
(1700), Sir George Savile (1702–22), Madam
Savile (1724–34), Lady Cole (1735–7) and
Admiral Hillsley (1756–7). (fn. 3)

In the early nineteenth century No. 32 was
occupied as a bead warehouse and later by a
surgeon and a solicitor. It housed the London
Homoeopathic Hospital from 1851 to 1856 and a
Turkish bath from 1861 to 1865. (fn. 4)

In 1865 the house was taken over as the Free
Dispensary for Throat Diseases, now the Royal
National Ear, Nose and Throat Hospital. The
house (which is not known to have been rebuilt or
greatly altered since its erection in the late
seventeenth century), was demolished in 1882 and
rebuilt for the hospital by the following year. The
architect was C. L. Luck, and the builders were
McLachlan and Sons, whose tender was for
£7678. (fn. 5) The plaque on the Upper John Street
front of the building commemorates the foundation
of the hospital by Sir Morell Mackenzie, the
throat surgeon, whose attendance upon the dying
Emperor Frederick of Germany in 1888 had
international repercussions. (fn. c1)

No. 33 Golden Square

The early history of this site has been described
above under No. 32. No. 33 was not inhabited
until 1695, when the first occupant was probably
Mrs. Gore. Later occupants include Admiral Sir
Stafford Fairborne (1716–27) and Dr. Charles
Jernegan (Jerningham) (1728–53). In the nineteenth century the house was in commercial use
until 1870 when it was occupied by the Masonic
Council, which remained here until 1911. (fn. 4)

There is no indication that the original house
was rebuilt until 1912. It was then demolished to
allow the erection of a new extension to the
adjoining Throat Hospital.

No. 34 Golden Square

The early history of this site has been described
above under No. 32. No. 34 was first occupied in
1694, by Colonel Carpenter (1694–5), possibly
the soldier George Carpenter who was created
Baron Carpenter in 1719. Later occupants include Lady Temple (1702–7), Lord George
Howard (1716–22) and Edward Ford (1780–91),
the surgeon who later lived at No. 4. Towards
the end of Ford's occupation the house underwent
repairs. Later it was occupied by a solicitor (fn. 6) and
in 1851 was purchased by the Roman Catholic
Archdiocese of Westminster, which then used the
adjoining No. 35 as an episcopal residence. (fn. 7)

In 1866 No. 34 was taken over by Messrs.
Gagnière, the firm of silk and woollen merchants
which had occupied No. 21 since 1844. In 1856
the firm had moved to No. 35, and had taken over
No. 36 in 1863 and No. 34 in 1866. No. 34 and
the other two old houses remained standing and in
the possession of Messrs. Gagnière until 1914,
when all three were demolished. (fn. 3) A new office
and warehouse block was then erected for the
firm, to the designs of Leonard Stokes. The
building is of steel frame construction and the
façade was built in Crown Portland stone from
Whitbed, with carvings by A. Broadbent of
Fulham. The Westmorland green roof-slates were
from the Tilberthwaite quarries. The builders
were Messrs. Ashbyand Horner of Aldgate East. (fn. 8)

This is a good example of Stokes's highly idiosyncratic style (Plate 141c). Dominating the square,
the Portland stone front is basically a neo-classical
composition with restrained art nouveau detailing,
sparingly and convincingly applied. The main
face is divided into three strongly defined stages,
the first of two storeys, and the second of three
consisting of three wide bays containing three-light
windows. The top stage, or attic storey, has six
windows. At each end of the front is a tall and
narrow pylon, or stair tower, just overlapped by
the central face. The bays in the first stage, and
the high segmental arches of the ground-floor
windows, are defined or outlined by a ribbed
framework, typical of Stokes, but the bays in the
three-storeyed stage are divided by pilasters, with
cartouches in place of capitals, and panelled shafts
broken by a kind of rustication. These pilasters
support an entablature, its cornice having a deep
cavetto carved with formal shells and leaves, an
ornament probably derived from the Georgian
shell-and-dart enrichment. The cornice of the
attic storey has a suggestion of the Doric. At the
base of each stair tower is a doorway, its architrave
frame finished with a cleft pediment, steeply
pitched. The character of Stokes's work has been
partly lost by removal of the many-paned casements from the windows.

The building was occupied by Messrs. Gagnière
until 1958. (fn. 4) The present occupants, Granada
Group Limited, rebuilt the back premises in
1960.

No. 35 Golden Square

The site of this house was the first to be developed on the north side of the square. A house
was in building there in 1685, when it was in the
possession of Captain John Staples, who seems to
have also built a number of smaller (and possibly
temporary) dwellings on other property of Isaac
Symball in Gelding Close. (fn. 9) By 1689 No. 35
had been completed and was in the occupation of
Esquire Gage, who remained until 1693. The
next inhabitant, from 1694 to 1695, was Sir
Philip Constable. From 1710 to 1724 Thomas
Robinson occupied the house, (fn. 10) and according to
Charles Burney 'established weekly concerts and
assemblies in the manner of conversazione which
were frequented by all such as had any pretentions
to politeness and good taste'. (fn. 11) The chief
attraction was Robinson's daughter Anastasia, the
celebrated singer.

The house was rebuilt between 1732 and
1737 (fn. 3) by Richard Nicholson, the carpenter who
was building many of the houses on the Craven
estate at this time (see Chapter XII). Later inhabitants include Dr. Jernegan (Jerningham),
who moved here from No. 33 in 1754 and for
whom the house was said to have been rebuilt, and
the second Baron Fortescue. The latter lived here
from 1768 to 1780. (fn. 12)

In the nineteenth century No. 35 was the
residence of the Roman Catholic vicars-general of
the London district—the Rev. John Bramston
from 1830 to 1836, the Rev. Thomas Griffiths
from 1837 to 1847 and the Rev. Nicholas (later
Cardinal) Wiseman from 1847 to 1855. (fn. 13)
Messrs. Gagnière, silk and woollen merchants,
moved into the premises in 1856 and later took
over the adjoining Nos. 34 and 36. They demolished No. 35 in 1914 to allow the erection of
the present building (see above, sub No. 34).

No. 36 Golden Square

In September 1688 Isaac Symball leased this
site to Robert Tudor of St. James's, painter
stainer, for nine hundred years. Tudor was
possibly the nominee of John Angier, the builder
who had previously worked at No. 18 St. James's
Square; Angier had built two houses on the
east side of Upper John Street and in 1737 his
descendants owned the site of No. 36 Golden
Square. (fn. 14)

The house seems to have been finished and
occupied by 1692, when the Jacobite Lord Slane
evidently lived here. In 1694 he was followed by
Lady Dawney, the first Lord Haversham, then an
influential politician (1699–1700), the Duchess of
Wharton (1767–77), who died here, and Sir
William Middleton (1778–88), for whom the
house may have been partially rebuilt. (fn. 15) Rebuilding may have also taken place in the early eighteenth century. There is no documentary evidence
of this but the front elevation of this house as
shown in Sutton Nicholls's engraving (Plate 120b)
is more akin to the style of the 1720's than to that
of the late seventeenth century.

The house was in private occupation during the
first half of the nineteenth century. It was used as
an hotel from 1856 to 1863 and from then on by
Messrs. Gagnière, the silk and woollen merchants
who also occupied Nos. 34 and 35. (fn. 3) In 1914
No. 36 was demolished to allow the erection of
Messrs. Gagnière's new building which now
covers this and the two adjoining sites (see above,
sub No. 34).

No. 37 Golden Square

The early history of this site can only be surmised for the first building lease and other allied
documents of title do not seem to have been preserved. It is likely, however, that the site was
leased in 1688 by Isaac Symball to the painter
stainer Robert Tudor, who held similar leases of
both the site to the east and that to the west.
Furthermore Sutton Nicholls's engraving (Plate
120b) suggests that Nos. 37 and 38 may well have
been the work of the same builder. John Angier,
the building speculator associated with the development of the two adjoining sites of Nos. 36 and 38,
was also probably concerned with No. 37. (fn. 16)

The house was finished by 1691 and probably
occupied for three years by Esquire Bowles (? the
soldier Phineas Bowles). Later occupants include
Esquire Rolt (1694–6), Lady Ossulston (1698–
1700), Lady Cullington (1702–11), Sir William
Abdy (1735–48), the physician John Clephane
(1749–58), the piano maker Rice Jones, who was
also apparently a coal-merchant (1798–1802),
who then moved to No. 11, and the surgical
writer Samuel Cooper (1803–11). (fn. 17) In the
nineteenth century the house was occupied by a
tailor from 1812 to 1835 and later by a music
teacher, a professor of gymnastics and by various
woollen firms. (fn. 4)

In 1927 the house (which does not seem to
have been rebuilt or greatly altered) was demolished together with the existing No. 38 Golden
Square and Nos. 4–7 (consec.) Upper John Street
and Nos. 34–38 (even) Beak Street. The present
building was then erected on this combined site
and completed by 1929. The architect was
Gordon Jeeves. (fn. 18)

No. 38 Golden Square

In May 1689 Isaac Symball leased this site to
Robert Tudor, painter stainer, for nine hundred
years at a rent of £14 10s. per annum. (fn. 19) Like
the adjoining Nos. 36 and 37, the first house was
probably built by Tudor in association with John
Angier, the building speculator, who was evidently concerned in the development of all three
sites. It was not completed until 1698. Lord
Ossulston (1698–1700), whose mother lived at
No. 37, was the first occupant. He was followed
by Lord (1702–22) and Lady Lanesborough
(1724–37), Joseph Mahoon, harpsichord maker
(1742–63) and the Honourable George (or John)
Hobart (1763–7), for whom the house may have
been rebuilt in 1763. (fn. 15)

In the later nineteenth century the house was
let to a number of commercial tenants and was
demolished in 1927 for the erection of the present
building to the design of Gordon Jeeves (see
above, sub No. 37).